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Introduction Child acquisition of phonology is a lengthy process. Children must discover their vocal systems and learn how to use them even while the structure develops (Stilwell-Peccei, 2006) in a process of mostly well-defined but in no way discrete stages (Stark, 1980). The typical child achieves a number of milestones along a general timeline, though with plenty of extant individual variation (Lust, 2006). It is easier to track a child’s language development based on the length and construction of an utterance. The acquisition of a particular sound is difficult to monitor because its production can be affected by all number of factors such as word length or the environment in which a given sound occurs (Ingram, Christensen, Veach, Webster, 1980), and its appearance before or after any other sound can be influenced by articulatory complexity, its rate of occurrence within the target language, and functional load (Van Severen, Gillis, Molemans, Van Den Berg, De Maeyer, & Gillis, 2013, Hoff, 2013). Some generalizations as to the development of phonological acquisition can be made, however, such as the order of pre-linguistic stages, which sounds appear, and which sounds do not. Stages of Pre-linguistic Development Researchers in the field of child language development agree the period before an infant can speak has a number of development stages. As to how those stages are defined and when they take place, however, they tend to disagree. The onset of a stage is not always particularly clear, like that of vocal play, and behaviours making their debut in one period appear just as frequently in its successor (Stark, 1980). Vegetative, Reflexive Sounds The first stage of phonological production development, vegetative and reflexive sounds, starts at birth and is characterized by how a neonate’s immature vocal tract and brain (Lust, 2006) limits their ability to produce phonation. For about a month and a half, an infant can only produce reflexive and vegetative sounds like a vocalic cry when in discomfort or vocalizations that give the impression of proto-consonants when air catches on parts of the vocal system when breathing, burping, or other basic, living sounds (Stark, 1980, Hoff, 2013). Infants can distinguish their mother tongue from a foreign language from birth, and can discriminate between two foreign languages as well as between words and non-words, and prefer their mother’s voice to all others (Mehler, Jusczyk, Lambertz, Halsted, Bertoncini, & AmielTison, 1988). Analysis Language perception in infants can be tested by gauging interest with regards to their rate of sucking, in this case, language discrimination. Neonates can do this from birth, however the neurons responsible begin to be cannibalized almost immediately and prosodically-similar languages, which English, Cantonese, and the East Slavic language family are not soon become indistinguishable (Mehler et al., 1988). Infants prefer the sound of a human voice over all other sounds and will attend the source. (4, 8, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 25, 42); Mehler et al., 1988). Cooing and Laughter Infants begin to vocalize contentment as early as 6 weeks (Stark, 1980), and they do so usually with a “coo” (Hoff, 2013). This is a more musical vocalization (Gillen, 2003), initially with only one, long vowel-like sound; in fact, the only recognizable speech sounds at this point are vowellike. As the infant’s vocal system develops and she begins to learn how it works, she begins to produce her first consonantal sounds, typically at the back of her mouth and reminiscent of [k and g (Hoff, 2013), and combines them with vocalic sounds into a consonant-vowel-like early syllable (Lust, 2006). Vocal Play The discovery that sounds can be combined leads way to the “vocal play” stage, also known as the “expansion stage” (Stark, 1980). Infants mix together a variety of sounds and do not limit themselves to “isolated” consonantal and vocalic vocalizations (Goodluck, 2001) but play with friction noises (Hoff, 2013), nasal murmurs, and behaviours such as squeaking or yelling (Stark, 1980). Although the infant produces vocalizations with consonant and vowel-like features, syllables of this ilk remain as of yet undeveloped in terms of their temporal characteristics and production values, such as syllable-timing fundamental frequency, or prosody (Lust, 2006). Infants develop more of a sense of their proper timing and articulation, however (MacNeilage, 1980), as they produce longer and more complicated series of sounds (Hoff, 2013) and eventually progress into “marginal babbling” (Stark, 1980). Reduplicated Babbling The playful sounds from the expansion stage continue throughout the reduplicated babbling stage, the onset of which typically occurs when the infant is about 6 months old (Stark, 1980). The hallmark of this stage is a long string of nigh-uniform consonant-vowel syllables whose timing bears a much greater resemblance to adult speech than the infant’s productions thus far (Stark, 1980). Their use of velar stops has decreased considerably—they may disappear from their production repertoire completely for some time—and she produces consonant-like sounds at the front of her mouth, such as n, p, or d (Hoff, 2013). Their vocalizations show the first signs of language-specific characteristics, though at the beginning, the effect is only obvious to phoneticians as only vowels and suprasegmental factors are affected, but by the time an infant is 8 months old, an adult may be able to distinguish two typical infants babbling in different target languages (Goodluck, 2001), however experimenters will usually have them to listen to a recording as infants rarely contribute babbles to a conversation; in fact they prefer to babble when they are alone. By the end of this stage of simpler babbles, caregivers’ expectations as to what they consider a contribution to a conversation on the infant’s part are higher than they have ever been, encouraging their infant to offer CV-like utterances as opposed to vocal play behaviours (Clark, 2009). Analysis In dialogue two, at seven months, Fei Yen’s vocalizations are steadily shifting to front consonants: *13. “gagəgədədæ.” **12 syllables; d: 5, g: 7 *16. Fei Yen waves Lady Quack about. “gəgədədæ gædədə gagəgə.” ** 12 syllables; d: 6, g: 6 *21. Fei Yen bats at Lady Quack. “dəgədə dadægædadə dægæ.” ** 13 syllables; d: 8, g: 5 *23. Fei Yen rattles Lady Quack. “dadægægagəgædæ dədægædadə dægæ.” **16 syllables; d: 10, g: 6 *25. Fei Yen plunges Lady Quack once more into the water. “gagægədədæ dadædadadədægæ dædə.” **17 syllables; d: 10, g: 7 *27. Fei Yen waves Lady Quack. “dæda dægæda dəgagædæ dadaga gædæ—” **16 syllables; d: 11, g: 5 *32. Fei Yen reaches for Lady Quack. “dæda dægæda dəgagædæ dadaga gædæ.” **16 syllables; d: 11, g: 5 Locke (1983) writes of an “increase in dominance” of d over g in “noncrying vocalizations”, noting that by the time an infant is 7 months old, d occurs 54% of the time an infant would use either d or g. Predominant vowel-like sounds during this time include æ, and ə. Stark (1980) describes how the likelihood of an infant babbling is greater than in “any other context” when the infant has an object she can manipulate, especially one which can be waved or shaken or when she is “visually exploring the environment”, like Fei Yen’s interactions with Lady Quack in the excerpt above, but rarely in a conversation, as seen in dialogue two, 7 months, lines 16-21: ::16. “Time for soap.” ::17. Fei Yen trills, grabbing for his fingers. ::18. “Nope, soap.” ::19. Fei Yen huffs, bats at Lady Quack. ::20. “I know, I know.” Mr Xiong squeezes shampoo onto his hand. ::21. Fei Yen bats at Lady Quack. “dəgədə dadægædadə dægæ.” Fei Yen does not offer babbles in her dialogue with her father; she prefers to speak to him with vocal play behaviours and only babbles when he is not offering conversation. Nonreduplicated Babbling The onset of variegated babbling is not as clearly delineated as other stages (Stark, 1980), however one may safely assume a typical, 9-10 month old infant has reached this stage and will likely prolong the overlap with pre-linguistic schemas and early word use for another couple years (Clark, 2009). Unlike reduplicated babbling, an infant will offer variegated babbles as conversation (Stark, 1980). While true consonants become more well-defined, language-specific characteristics become less obvious and more difficult for adults to discriminate (Hoff, 2013). Infants typically begin to use a greater variety of consonants, vowels, syllables, and prosodies (Stark, 1980), and begin to sound as if they are speaking the target language even though they still only produce nonsense sounds (Hoff, 2013). Infants who remain at this stage and produce quite a bit of this "jargon" are known as "intonation babies", while infants who quickly proceed to learning the labels of their environment are "word babies". An infant will make their preference clear around their first birthday (Goodluck, 2001). Analysis In dialogue three, 11 months, Fei Yen exhibits the overlap of variegated babbling, pre-linguistic schemas, and early word use: *127. “mmm!” Fei Yen reaches again. ** Pre-linguistic schema for a request (see “Pre-linguistic Schemas”) *128. “Feiby, what’s wrong?” ::129. “gʌb!” Fei Yen stomps her feet. **A short varigated babble As is typical of an infant at this stage, Fei Yen’s babbling has a greater variety of syllable types and sounds: *99. “dæ.” Fei Yen streeetches, pats his crown. *101. “dædədæ-dədædædəb.” *103. “dædəb.” Fei Yen tilts Hu’s head this way--“dəddæbgə.”-- and that. “gəgɒbdəbgəb.” *105. “dædəbdəbgɒb.” Fei Yen rubs Hu’s crown with the heel of her hand. *107. Fei Yen yanks Jin’s ear. “tɒb.” *109. “tɒp?” Fei Yen huffs, presses her mouth to Hu’s crown. *112. “tɒbtəpdɒp.” Fei Yen pats around with more force, brow furrowed. “təpdæpgəp.” *114. “gɒpkə.” Fei Yen mouths Hu’s head, taps with her front teeth. “ʌb.” *116. Fei Yen pulls away. “gɒbdəbtɒbtɒpdəpgʌb.” Frowns, digs in her teeth. *123. “tʌp!” *125. Fei Yen goes pink, face scrunching. gəp!” *129. “gʌb!” Fei Yen stomps her feet. *131. Fei Yen sits down heavily. “kʌb.” Bursts into tears. Instead of strings of CV syllables with very little variation, Fei Yen babbles with both CV syllables and CVC syllables with more than one difference between each segment and with a greater variety of articulation and voicing, such as word initial g, k, and d, and word final p and b, than in the previous, reduplicated babbling stage where she only produced word initial d and g. Since Fei Yen’s babbling is also serving to as a means of communication (Stark, 1980), she attempts to limit her production of different sounds to those in the neighbourhood (Hoff, 2013) of her target word, kʌp. Pre-linguistic Schemas Children produce meaningful utterances around 10 months; meaningful /words appear around 12 months. The former are not ‘words’ by virtue of not sounding adult-like, and have usually developed from an isolated segment of variegated babbling. These utterances constitute “protowords” but fail to capture an important distinction of early word development; at this stage, a meaningful utterance is a combination gesture-vocalization as much a part of their lexicon as words and will continue to do so until the child is two years old (Clark, 2009). These utterances typically have properties that make them easier to pronounce, for instance, they tend to be one or two syllables and they are usually open. p, d are found consistently in children’s early vocabularies, while ð, l, r and consonant clusters are consistently absent, however there is considerable variation in production repertoires (Hoff, 2013). Analysis In dialogue three (eleven months), Fei Yen communicates in a fashion characteristic of the “prelinguistic schema” (Clark, 2009) stage of development. She uses consistent vocalizations and gestures in highly constrained ways (the 'constrained’ aspect is not as obvious): *“h!” + waving (5): “Hello!” **The voiced glottal glide h is one of the consonants which appears quite frequently in infants’ repertoires as they near the onset of their first words. The liquid l, however, is not, and Fei Yen deletes it as well as the vowels. She made this gesture watching people try to get someone’s attention from a distance as she cannot yet bow. *“ɛ?” she asks, patting, at hip level, the air beside her (8): “May I stay, please?” **Fei Yen cannot yet manage the stop cluster st so she deletes it, leaving ɛ (McLeod, Van Doorn, & Reed, 2001). She learned this gesture from people asking variations of, “would you like to sit (here)” and patting the seat beside them. *Fei Yen beams, “dæŋ!”, and kisses the air in x’s direction (53, 63): “Thank you!” **Fei Yen reduces two syllables to only the one, simplifies θ to t and voices it to d, and reduces the ŋk cluster to n. She created this one by watching her parents at the breakfast/supper table; one would get something for the other who would thank them and kiss their cheek. *“ækə” (16): Proto-version of “All clear!” which, to Fei Yen, means everything from “Let’s go!” to “as you were”, “that’s okay”, and “we’re good”, among other uses. **This is an example of a segmentation error, as Fei Yen perceives this two word phrase as one word, "allclear". She reduces it to a VC-V syllable, one of the new consonant-vowel combinations found in infant's variegated babbling (Stark, 1980). The liquid l is not yet present in her repertoire; as her articulatory and cognitive prowess develops, she will coalesce the ɒl of "all" into ɔ, but for now, such a sound is too complicated in this more complex environment for her brain to manage. The liquid r will not appear for some time and by deleting it she both removes an unpronounceable sound from the utterance and creates an easier, open syllable from a more difficult, closed syllable. *“bæ!” waves Fei Yen (20): “Goodbye!” **The stop, b, is a voiced front sound, two features which make it a very straightforward sound to produce, unlike the diphthong aɪ̯ so Fei Yen has coalesced the two vowels into æ. *Fei Yen snores, giggles, and grins (55): How Fei Yen says “I slept well” which she picked up from roleplaying games and books as both denote sleeping deeply with snores. She finds the sound of snoring funny. **She does not yet know the word “snore” but she does know the sound. *“mmm.” (116, 122): making a request **An attempt to communicate “to me!”, possibly failing due to the cognitive load of attaching meaning to an utterance (Werker, Fennell, Corcoran, & Stager, 2002). *Fei Yen makes a sing-song-y sound (67): “You’re welcome” **This is the intonation contour of “you’re welcome” *Fei Yen replies with a high, nasaly sound and a happy face (69): "I like you!”, happy sounds **She does not yet have words to describe affectionate and happy feelings so she just uses a collection of sounds in a major key. *Fei Yen hums a sigh (73): sad sounds **An attempt at an adult’s sympathetic sigh (though she only understands the basic, ‘sad’ element) around a sippy cup. Fei Yen will continue refining these schemas well after she has begun speaking, like her dietic gesture in dialogue four, when she is thirteen months old: ::2. "Which one shall we learn today?" asks Hermann. ::3. Fei Yen points to a symbol on the chalkboard. "Da." The importance of these gestures will continue up until the time around Fei Yen’s second birthday (Clark, 2009), so in dialogue six, (22 months), Fei Yen continues to make use of them: ::29. “What’s up, Feiby?” ::30. “Duck!” Fei Yen waves Mister Soap at Ducky. She also displays two transitioning representational-symbolic gestures (Morgan, 2014) in 55 and 59: ::54. “That is some /incredible learn-age there, kid.” Miyahira holds out her fist. “Awesome fistbump of smartness.” ::55. "Yosh!" Fei Yen gleefully throws forth her own. And, ::58. “That’s my cue,” apologizes Miyahira. “Gotta jet.” ::59. “Byebye,” waves Fei Yen. Babbling and First Words Some infants go through a silent period around the same they begin to walk, which led some researchers to believe that babbling and early word production were two entirely different, unrelated systems. This may be an issue of cognitive load, however, suggested by Werker et al. (2002) with regards to word learning. Research has also found that an infant's preferences when babbling "predict quite accurately" their first words and probable deformations (Stark, 1980). At this point, only 11 consonants account for almost all the consonant sounds babbled by American English-learning 12 month olds: w, j, p, b, m, t, d, n, k, g (Hoff, 2013). First Words A child’s first meaningful words are typically spoken any time between 9 and 14 months (Lust, 2006) and label common, concrete concepts with which they interact frequently (Clark, 2009). These words follow many of the same phonological processes as vocalizations found in a child’s pre-linguistic schemes. They tend to be one open syllable, a reduplicated utterance, or two different syllables (Hoff, 2013). Analysis As is expected in the variegated babbling stage, Fei Yen no longer uses babbles as exercise but as dialogue, and replies with jargon: ::98. Jin asks, “What’s got you so interested?” ::99. “dæ.” Fei Yen streeetches, pats his crown. Hoff (2013) writes, “A child who is very interested in social interaction … might be more driven to use whatever means is available for interaction.”, so upon meeting failure, Fei Yen adds to her original reply with variegated babbles in the continued hope of communicating her meaning. She offers as many sound combinations as close to the target word, kʌp, as she is able while honing in on the proper articulation and voicing: ::122. “What’s up?” ::123. “tʌp!” Proper voicing, proper obstruction, but wrong place of articulation; proper vowel and the proper final consonant. ::124. “Why’re you biting him?” ::125. Fei Yen goes pink, face scrunching. gəp!” Proper place of articulation but voiced; proper degree of closure for the vowel but too far to the front; proper final consonant. ::126. “Feiby?” ::127. “mmm!” Fei Yen reaches again. * Attempting a different tactic by using a schema she knows they understand ::128. “Feiby, what’s wrong?” :: 129. “gʌb!” Fei Yen stomps her feet. * Proper place of articulation but voiced, target vowel, target final consonant ::130. “Fei Yen?” ::131. Fei Yen sits down heavily. “kʌb!” Bursts into tears. * Correct initial consonant; correct vowel, proper place of articulation but incorrect voicing Stops like k and p are both early-developing sounds, and p is a sound that consistently appears in children’s early words (Hoff, 2013). Single Words Consonant clusters, fricatives, and liquids are not produced, while sounds articulated closer to the front of the mouth, like p, and d are produced extremely frequently, comprising almost all the consonantal production of a toddler’s utterances along with eight other consonants (Hoff, 2013). The single word period is not a true stage like babbling or cooing, but a number of processes that every word goes through (Clark, 2009). A typical child will learn that specific sound combinations refer to specific objects. In the first half of the process, a toddler separates a segment from the speech stream, assigns it to any number of meanings, and approximates a production. This utterance tends to be of one, open syllable; one of the biggest differences between the toddler’s production and the target. Words undergoing the second half of the process more closely resemble the latter in the number of sounds, however they may not be produced in an adult-like manner (Clark, 2009). Early Single Words In the early single word period, a child’s production vocabulary consists of very few words, none, if any, resemble the adult forms (Hoff, 2013). They tend to be holophrastic utterances as a child will use a nonword if their utterance really is only one word long (Clark, 2009). Analysis Fei Yen is three months past her first words, and the quality of her productions are hindered by her still-developing brain (Goodluck, 2001), so she is only capable of speaking one word at a time and without any prosodic notions, like contrastive stress: ::7. Fei Yen frowns. "Na-ma." If Fei Yen could speak in an adult like manner, she would have said, “I didn’t say ‘llama’, I said /lambda.” Early pronouns, like “I”, negations, and contractions will not appear until after she can speak in two-word utterances (Brown, 1973) and she will not have enough articulatory control to produce contrastive stress until she is almost three (Stilwell-Peccei, 2006). As is typical of children in the early single word period, Fei Yen cannot produce the fricative ð and substitutes d in its place: 3. Fei Yen points. “Da one.” The lateral liquid l also causes her difficulty, so she replaces it as well, this time with the nasal n, and deletes final consonant, d: 13. Fei Yen giggles. "Nama." Children tend to reduplicate the first syllable (partial, in the case of 9, 13) and delete the final consonant (d in 7, 9, 13). Both d and n are early acquired sounds, the former of which consistently appears across children’s early production vocabulary (Hoff, 2013). As for why children’s phonological processes replace targets with sounds they cannot produce in other environments, in this case, the fricative s another fricative, ʃ, no one really knows (Lust, 2006): * 11. Fei Yen makes a show of thinking about it, then nods. "Yesh." Also illustrated, in 9, is children's ability to recognize their own deformations; that is, they are saying the target word perfectly but they cannot produce it and they know it (Lust, 2006): ::6. "This is lambda." ::7. "Naaama." ::8. He stifles a laugh. "Llama?" ::9. Fei Yen frowns. "Na-ma." Later Single Words A child’s vocabulary at fourteen months shows some growth since the earlier single word stage. At this point, a child can begin implementing the later part of the single word period around 14 months of age, producing their first few adult-like words, even if their production capabilities are limited (Clark, 2009). A child appears to use the contents of their meager vocabulary in either highly constrained ways or in a fashion which suggests overgeneralizations. However, since they have yet to fully understand what parts of their environment belong with what, it may be that children do neither and simply they attach the label to a specific characteristic (Stilwell-Peccei, 2006). Analysis In dialogue four, (15 months) Fei Yen exhibits a number of trends typical of a child’s language development, such as making use of phonological processes, having difficulty with the speech stream, and compensating for a limited vocabulary. Fei Yen implements a number of phonological processes such that she can approximate sounds in words she would otherwise not be able to produce. Some of them include creating open syllables by deleting word final consonants, especially late-developing sounds like liquids, simplifying fricatives, and strategies for consonant clusters. Fei Yen’s use of her vocabulary is characteristic of a child who wants to communicate but cannot do so in an adult-like manner. She thus relies on holophrastic utterances and overgeneralizations, but some of her word choices reflect segmentation errors of the speech stream and of her world (thus having difficulty mapping words and sounds to their proper meaning), however, and not conscious choices to compensate. * “tsɑ!” (9, 28, 36): “Stop!”; an exclamation to denote something is happening ** Fei Yen has coalesced the fricative-stop cluster into one consonant, the affricate ts (McLeod et al., 2001) and created an open syllable by deleting the word final stop, p. Even without Fei Yen’s meddling, “Stop!”, in a construction sense, is a holophrastic utterance, meaning “stop what you’re doing!” and “watch out!”. She has overgeneralized its use, however, to mean “watch out” in a number of different contexts, like when driving an imaginary vehicle. * “ɔkɪə!” (11, 25, 34): “All clear”`; the cue for things to start ** Fei Yen still prefers open syllables, and since she cannot produce liquids, deleting the word final r, she satisfies both needs with one process. She coalesces the vowel ɒ and the word final liquid l into ɔ for the same, liquid-avoiding reason. This two word utterance remains the victim of a speech segmentation error; as seen in dialogue three, she hears the two words as only one. This is a case where an overgeneralization may not really be an overgeneralization (Stilwell-Peccei, 2006) as she uses it as a label for starting and restarting, depending on context. * “Boooooo” (with a deep timbre; 5): “Vooooo”; the sound of a very large thing moving. ** The fricative v remains unpronounceable, leading Fei Yen to simplify it into the stop b (Ingram et al., 1980). * “Beee! Beee!” (7): the sound of doing something new (a ‘reverse’ alarm; a vehicle reversing). ** “fu.” (13): “Phew” o Fei Yen simplifies the fju fricative-diphthong combination to a more straightforward fricative-vowel combination (Ingram et al., 1980). * “Boomboom” (5): “Vroomvroom”; to head off, to ride (in a cart), to go somewhere. ** Fei Yen cannot produce the fricative-liquid cluster vr so she deletes the liquid and simplifies the fricative into a stop (McLeod et al., 2001, Ingram et al., 1980). This is also her label for anything on which she can ride; the maintenance workers who ferry Fei Yen and her caregiver over especially long distances, without fail, announce the beginning of the drive with “Vroom vroom!” * “Maaau” (39): a whiny sound (the sound of a brake engaging) ** Another of Fei Yen’s compensating overgeneralizations; she approximates the sound of a brake engaging by imitating a cat as sounds are more readily identifiable in the latter than in the former. * “dæŋju” (41): “thank you” ** Fei Yen has incorrectly parsed the speech stream in such a way that she hears “thank” and “you” as one segment. She has stored it as an unanalyzed whole which is part of why she pronounces it here and simplifies the ju in “phew” (the other reason being children’s production of a sound varies from one utterance to the next (Clark, 2009)). Fei Yen also simplifies θ to t and voices it to d, and reduces the ŋk cluster to ŋ. As Fei Yen’s fifty first words near the end of their single word period, she consistently produces them in an adult-like manner; however the propositions implied in her holophrastic utterances remain as cryptic as ever, as seen in dialogue six, 22 months: * 9. Fei Yen narrows her eyes. “Duck.” ** “I am Soap; gummies, prepare to be smooshed.” * 15. “Duck—” Fei Yen looks at Mister Soap. ** “I am Soap—,” * 20. Fei Yen says, “Duck.” **“Soap is like Ducky.” * 22. “/Duck.” ** “Soap and Ducky are both called ‘duck’.” * 24. “/Duck!” ** “They’re both called ‘duck’!” * 26. “Duck!” Fei Yen grabs Mister Soap. “Duck!” ** “Mister Soap is called ‘duck’!” and “Ducky is called ‘duck’!” * 28. Fei Yen fumes, twists in Charlie’s lap. “Duck.” ** “Why doesn’t he understand they’re both ducks.” * 30. “Duck!” Fei Yen waves Mister Soap at Ducky. ** “They’re both ducks!” * 31. “mʌdnɒ ɔkɪr!” ** “Getting help is a great idea!” * 39. Fei Yen grumbles, throws down Mister Soap. “Duck.” ** “I can’t believe I have to wait to tell them they’re both ducks.” * 45. Fei Yen, picking up Mister Soap. “Duck.” Points him at Ducky. “Duck.” ** “Mister Soap’s a duck.” And “Ducky’s a duck.” * 48. Fei Yen bounces. “Duck! Duck-duck!” ** “They’re both ducks! Mister Soap, a duck, Ducky, and duck!” Her use of nonwords for single word productions has decreased considerably (Clark, 2009), using adult-like words instead, like “Boom!” (11). Transitional Words Once children speak their first words, their language acquisition seems to grind to a halt, spending months using only one-word, occasionally holophrastic (Clark, 2009), utterances for no physiological, cognitive, or vocabulary reason (Lust, 2006). This single word period eventually develops into transitional words, such as vertical constructions or word-jargon combinations (Hoff, 2013). Vertical constructions are multiple, related utterances in which each word is separated by a pause, and word-jargon combinations include one recognizable word in a string of babbling. Analysis Fei Yen’s progression into longer utterances is heralded by the appearance of vertical constructions she has been scattering throughout her speech, such as: :: 48. “Tarding. Cannon.” The utterance, in adult, would be “Charging cannon”, but for whatever reason (Lust, 2006), Fei Yen cannot yet manage a proper two-word utterance. “Tarding” is also an example of an unanalyzed whole, a form of speech segmentation error where an utterance with multiple morphemes is perceived and produced as one large chunk, that is, Fei Yen has yet to learn that “charging” is “charge+ing” and will not recognize the individual morphemes on their own (cite). Fei Yen simplifies the fricative tʃ and the affricate dʒ into the stops t and d, respectively, while kænən has emerged from the single word period as an adult-like production. She can also now produce the liquid r in word-final positions: ::49. “mʌdnɒ ɔkɪr!” In this word-jargon combination, Fei Yen shows she still has yet to master the liquid l, either in a word final position or in a consonant cluster, like this stop-liquid, kl, cluster wherein she deletes it (McLeod et al., 2001), not unlike her phonological process for the liquid r when it occurs in a word-final position and closing a syllable. Two-Word Utterances The child has a good grasp on most of the sounds in of their language, thus their early implementations of syntax and morphology are almost fully intelligible, and upon grasping the productivity of language, a child can express a number of variations within the handful of relational meanings to which their utterances are constrained. Analysis Around line 15, Fei Yen has the epiphany that everything has a label (Ingram, 1989) and the arbitrary nature of those labels (Gillen, 2003), shortly moving on to two (and later, three) word utterances (though probably not this quickly) by line 66: ::66. “Duck grow.” These two words have both completed the single word period successfully and are produced in an adult-like manner, giving them the opportunity to express an agent-action relationship, one of the eight relational meanings Brown (1973) identified in children’s two-word utterances. Conclusion Children will not fully acquire the phonological inventory of their language for years, though how old they are varies from child to child. This lengthy process proceeds with no discernable rhyme or reason; whatever logic dictates their learning remains hidden by the very phenomenon scientists wish to study. Sources Boree, C. G. (2003). "Language Development." Retrieved from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/langdev.html. Brown, R. (1973). A First Language: The Early Stages. Cambridge, MA: Havard University Press. Clark, Eve. (2003, 2009). First Language Acquisition. Cambridge University Press. del Toro, G. (Producer), & Beachman, T. (Director). (2013). Pacific Rim picture. United States: Legendary Pictures. Gillen, J. (2003). The Language of Children. London: Routledge. Van Severen, L., Gillis, J. J., Molemans, I., Van Den Berg, R., De Maeyer, S., & Gillis, S. (2013). The relation between order of acquisition, segmental frequency and function: the case of word-initial consonants in Dutch. Journal of child language, 40(04), 703-740. Goodluck, H. (2001). Language Acquisition : A Linguistic Introduction. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford. Hoff, Erika. (2013). Language Development. Wadsworth Publishing: USA. Ingram, D. (1989). First Language Acquisition: Method, Description, and Explanation. Cambridge University Press. Ingram, D., Christensen, L., Veach, S., Webster, B. 2001. The Acquisition of Word-Initial Fricatives and Affricates in English by Children between 2 and 6 Years. In Yeni-Komshian, G., Kavanagh, J., Ferguson, C. (Ed.), Child Phonology (vol. 1: Production, pp. 169-192). Academic Press. Locke, J. (1983). Phonological Acquisition and Change. Academic Press. Lust, B. (2006). Child Language: Acquisition and Growth. Cambridge University Press. MacNeilage, P. (1980). “The Control of Speech Production.” In Yeni-Komshian, G., Kavanagh, J., Ferguson, C. (Ed.), Child Phonology (vol. 1: Production, pp. 9-22). Academic Press. McLeod, S., Van Doorn, J., & Reed, V. A. (2001). “Normal acquisition of consonant clusters. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 10(2), 99-110. Mehler, J., Jusczyk, E W., Lambertz, G., Halsted, N., Bertoncini, J., & Amiel-Tison, C. (1988). “A precursor of language acquisition in young infants”. Cognition, 29, 143-178. Menn, L. (1980). “Phonological Theory and Child Phonology”. In Yeni-Komshian, G., Kavanagh, J., Ferguson, C. (Ed.), Child Phonology (vol. 1: Production, pp. 23-42). Academic Press. Menyuk, P. (1980). “The Role of Context in Misarticulations.” In Yeni-Komshian, G., Kavanagh, J., Ferguson, C. (Ed.), Child Phonology (vol. 1: Production, pp. 211-226). Academic Press. Morgan, G (2014). “On language acquisition in speech and sign: development of combinatorial structure in both modalities.” Frontier Psychology. 2014; 5: 1217. Published online 2014 November 11. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01217 Oller, D. 1980. “The Emergence of Speech Sounds in Infancy.” In Yeni-Komshian, G., Kavanagh, J., Ferguson, C. (Ed.), Child Phonology (vol. 1: Production, pp. 93-112). Academic Press: London, England. Stark, R. 1980. “Speech Development in the First Year.” In Yeni-Komshian, G., Kavanagh, J., Ferguson, C. (Ed.), Child Phonology (vol. 1: Production, pp. 73-92). Academic Press. Stilwell Peccei, Jean (2006). Child Language: A resource book for students. Abmgdon, Oxon: Routledge. Werker J., Fennell, C., Corcoran, K., Stager, C. Infants’ ability to learn phonetically similar words: Effects of age and vocabulary. Infancy. 2002;3:1–30. Dialogues Dialogue One # "The books all say I'm supposed to talk to you," says Xiong, smoothing Fei Yen's downy hair with her thumb. "But I'm not sure what to say to someone who won't understand me." (Dictionary of Nursing, 2014) # Fei Yen looks up at her. # "Though you are listening. I suppose that's the important part." # Fei Yen keeps watching. # "Well, you won't have any siblings from me—I was almost too old for you—but you have lots of cousins..." Xiong sighs but smiles at the several dozen bouquets of flowers. "And I expect you'll pick up quite a bit more family by virtue of living here—" # From out in the hall— # A string of angry Cantonese. # Fei Yen glances away. # A deep rumble of Russian. # Fei Yen nurses with earnest— # Xiong winces. "Everything's fine, my dear—" # Fei Yen looks back at her. # "—I'm not going anywhere." # Another, angrier string of Cantonese— # Fei Yen glances away, nurses more intently— # Xiong stifles her wince, presses the call button. "My love—" # Fei Yen's eyes focus on Xiong— # A sharp slash of Russian. # —for barely a moment. # Nurse Miyahira (18;3.3, Ryukyujin (black hair), 5’6”) knocks, slips inside, and bows. "Marshal." # "Would you—" # Fei Yen attends. # "—be so kind as to ask the argument to remove itself from the vicinity?" # Miyahira cringes. "Which argument?" # "The—" Xiong stifles a wince. "Chinese-Russian squabble?" # Miyahira frowns, but: "Consider it—" # Fei Yen's eyes flick away. # "—done." She bows— # More arguing. # Fei Yen nurses more eagerly. # Miyahira lights up. "It's that high-amplitude—" # Xiong winces. # "—sucking thing in action!" Sobers. "Though it's probably really uncomfortable for you. I'll take care of that argument now." Bows again, closes the door softly, listens. # She can hear /'Ukrainian'... # Miyahira shrugs off her doubt, strides from the Long Term wing into Receiving, and follows the shouting the second door of Short Term & Exams. # -Kaidanovskaya, Alexandra, 24 years old, 5'10" ... Kaidanvosky, Alexander, 18 years old, 7' ... Russian.- says the chart. # Okay, then. # She pushes open the door, says loudly, “Cadets, Rangers.” Inclines her head. # The combatants back off. # “You’ll be pleased to know your appointments have been rescheduled.” # Jin (17;0.13, Chinese (black buzzcut), 5’11) huffs. # Kaidanovskaya (24;10.28, bleach blonde, 5’10”) raises an eyebrow. # “When?” asks Kaidanovsky (18;11.6, bleach blond, 7’). # “I’ll let your handlers know. Bye, now!” # They communicate; Kaidanovsky rumbles in Ukrainian, Kaidanovskaya slides off the bed, they grab their shoes, and they saunter out. # Miyahira turns to the triplets expectantly. # “What?” asks Cheung (17;0.13, Chinese (black buzzcut), 5’11). # “I’m kicking the lot of you out.” # Cheung, Jin, and Hu wince. # “Right,” says Hu (17;0.13, Chinese (black buzzcut), 5’11). # “We’ll see ourselves out,” adds Cheung. # “Awesome.” Miyahira sorta bows. “Later!” # They follow her out, return to their exam room. # A high, reedy wail. # "A kitten!" beams Jin, grabbing his trousers. # "What would a kitten be doing in a Shatterdome?" wonders Cheung, pulling on his shirt. # "Shouldn’t we be leaving?” reminds Hu. # But Jin's out the door. # Cheung, now dressed, shrugs and follows. # Hu wanders towards the exit for exactly three steps, then turns on his heel and dashes after them. # He finds their brothers easily enough, glued at the hip and with lowered guard at the Marshal’s bedside. # Also Jin's broadcasting ‘——''omg! cute thing! come look!' vibes. # “Cadet,” greets the Marshal. # Hu bows. # Jin subtly motions him over. # “This is Fei Yen, my daughter.” Shifts her arms, inclines her head. # Cheung, Jin, and Hu shuffle closer, peers around the Marshal’s shoulder. # “Fei Yen, these are Cadets Wei Cheung, Wei Jin, and Wei Hu, he-him-his. I expect you’ll be seeing a lot of them.” # Fei Yen doesn’t look at them. # “Hi,” whispers Jin. # Puffy, squinting dark eyes flick his way. # Jin swallows most of a squee, clutches Cheung’s arm. # For all appearances, Cheung seems to be his usual, always-watching big brother but he's hugging Jin's arm just as tightly and his mouth's gone kinda dopey. # Fei Yen does a... wiggly thing and scrunches her face. # "All done?" the Marshal asks softly. # Apparently so, as Fei Yen doesn't protest when the Marshal eases her—and there's Miyahira with a towel over her shoulder, scooping up Fei Yen in her blanket, and there goes Miyahira and Fei Yen. # "Did you see the little nose!" bursts Jin. "And the little feets!" # The Marshal smiles in spite of herself, adjusting her gown. "Can I help you three with something?" # "We heard a kitten," explains Cheung. # "Guessing you don't have a kitten," adds Jin. # “But we’re not sure what you have, either,” finishes Hu. # "A baby," says Marshal Xiong, eyes softening. “A brand new baby.” # A gurgly sound. # "A human baby?" asks Jin. # "Yes." # Miyahira comes back— # Marshal Xiong doesn't quite smile but she kinda glows. # —and returns a loosely-swaddled Fei Yen to the Marshal's arms. # "She's very, uh...." Hu schools a frown. How does one compliment newborns? # "Are you sure she's human?" asks Jin. # "Absolutely," says the Marshal, easing Fei Yen against her chest. "I'm still frozen from the surgery." # Now that the Marshal mentions it, Hu does see some features resembling those of a human, but— # "She's kinda... purple," Hu points out. (15, Babycenter) # “And icky,” adds Jin. (16, Babycenter) # "That's because she was born four hours ago," explains the Marshal. "The tint will fade as she gets used to breathing on her own." # Oooooh. # “May we hold her?” asks Jin. # “Not until tomorrow,” replies Xiong, draping the tiny blanket over Fei Yen. # Jin pouts— # “That’s not going to work, Cadet.” Dialogue Two (7 months) 7 months--2016 July. #“Into the suds!” Mr Xiong announces, sliding Fei Yen into tub. #Fei Yen gurgles happily and flaps her arms. #Mr Xiong sets her rubber duck, Lady Quack, to floating— #Fei Yen makes an excited sound and snatches her up. #—and fills a small bucket with tub water. #“gagəgədədæ.” #Lady Quack bobs with every other consonant. #“Watch out,” warns Mr Xiong, making his hand into a visor over her eyes. #Fei Yen blows a raspberry. #“Nicely done, Feiby.” #Fei Yen chirps. #Mr Xiong carefully pours the bucket over her head. #Fei Yen waves Lady Quack about. “gəgədədæ gædədə gagəgə.” #“There we go,” Mr Xiong brushes Fei Yen’s drippy hair back off her forehead. #Fei Yen squeaks and kicks her legs. #“Time for soap.” #Fei Yen trills, grabbing for his fingers. #“Nope, soap.” #Fei Yen huffs, sends Lady Quack into the water. #“I know, I know.” Mr Xiong squeezes shampoo onto his hand. #Fei Yen bats at Lady Quack. “dəgədə dadægædadə dægæ.” #Mr Xiong rubs shampoo into her hair. #Fei Yen rattles Lady Quack. “dadægægagəgædæ dədægædadə dægæ.” #Mr Xiong gently massages her scalp. #Fei Yen plunges Lady Quack once more into the water. “gagægədədæ dadædadadədægæ dædə.” #Mr Xiong fills the bucket anew. #Fei Yen waves Lady Quack. “dæda dægæda dəgagædæ dadaga gædæ—” #Lady Quack flies from Fei Yen’s hand. #“Here we go again,” warns Mr Xiong. #Fei Yen vocalizes and beams. #Mr Xiong empties the bucket over Fei Yen’s hair. #Fei Yen reaches for Lady Quack. “dæda dægæda dəgagædæ dadaga gædæ.” #“All done!” Mr Xiong opens the drain. #Fei Yen giggles, hits the water with her palm. #“Out you go.” Mr Xiong eases Fei Yen from the tub, wraps her in a towel. #Fei Yen hums, burrows into his arms. Dialogue Three #Cheung, Jin, and Hu (17:11.8, Chinese, Cadets) sprawl on their crash pad, going over the almost last-minute details of ''Shaolin Rogue, due to launch in less than two months. 1 #A knock. #They attend. #Mr Xiong’s got the half-perturbed look that says they moved so perfectly in sync so as to be eerie. (2; del Toro, 2013) #“/h/!” waves Fei Yen (0:10.26, Chinese, marshal’s daughter) as they scrambled to their feet. (Clark, 2003, 2009) #“Sir,” greets Cheung, bowing with Jin and Hu. #Mr Xiong (late 40s, Chinese, marshal’s husband) bows back, a little distracted by Fei Yen tugging his hand. #“/ɛ/?” she asks, patting, at hip level, the air beside her. #“Might Fei Yen stay for a bit?” he asks. #“Of course!” says Jin. #“We’ll be happy to have her,” adds Hu. #Fei Yen beams, “/dæn/!”, and kisses the air in Mr Xiong’s direction. #Cheung steps forward for the diaper bag. #Fei Yen toddles full-tilt into Jin’s arms. #“We gotta work on /''Typhoon'', though,” warns Jin, scooping her up. 3 #“/ækiə/”, says Fei Yen, making herself comfy. #“Awes—” Jin grunts the grunt of someone finding a tiny, plastic-shelled work boot digging into their stomach as a means of propelling a tiny body higher on the someone’s person. 4 #“I’ll be with the Marshal,” says Mr Xiong. ”Have fun.” #“We’ll do our best,” replies Hu. #“/bæ/!” waves Fei Yen. #Cheung and Hu bow, Jin sort bows, Mr Xiong replies, blows a kiss to Fei Yen, and heads off. #Cheung sits back down on their crashpad, Hu flops, and Jin falls backwards, much to Fei Yen’s delight. #She wiggles free almost immediately and beelines— #“No!” squeaks Jin, throwing himself after her. “Shoes!”5 #—for the diaper bag and tries to get it open. #Jin pulls off one shoe, Hu grabs the other. #“Would you like help with that?” asks Cheung. #Fei Yen smacks the bag and sits back with a huff and a glower. 6 #Jin tosses Hu a tablet. #“Here you go.” Cheung opens the main compartment— #Fei Yen dives in. #–and abandons his attempt to free any of the smaller ones. #Fei Yen rummages around. #“Have they picked a colour yet?” asks Hu. #Jin taps away. “I think so—they did and Marketing cleared it.” Shows off the screen. 7 #Cheung asks Fei Yen, “Can I help?” #She continues rummaging. #“That’s a lot of orange,” Hu remarks. 8 (encycolorpedia) #“Yes, yes it is,” says Jin. "At least it matches the /Braves." (artbook) #Cheung sits back. #“Are we ordering it?” 9 #“We are, and the Marshal wants us to wait until after the other ‘Domes open.” 10 (Novelization) #Cheung offers, “Would you like me to dump it out?” #Fei Yen makes a frustrated sound. #Jin squees, “We get to paint soon!!!” (alighterwithlove, 2013). #Hu huffs a laugh. “It’s gonna end up being on our birthday.” 11 (Novelization) #“I know! Best. Present. Ever.” #Fei Yen exclaims, holds up her sippy cup triumphantly. #Cheung, Jin, and Hu cheer. #Jin asks, “Would you like something to drink?” #Fei Yen hums, presents her cup. #“Water okay?” Jin takes it. 12 (Babycenter) #Fei Yen hums again, calls, “/dæn/!”, and kisses the air. #Hu asks, “Did you sleep well?” #Fei Yen snores, giggles, and grins. #“We did, too.” #Cheung grumbles, “Jin kept kicking me.” #“Did not!” scoffs Jin. #“I have footprints!” #Jin hmphs. #Fei Yen giggles. #Jin bows with a flourish. “Your water, Mx.” 13 #“/dæn/!” Fei Yen takes it with both hands, leans forward— #Jin shuffles closer. #–kisses his nose. #“Aw, sank you, Feiby!” Jin kisses her forehead. #Fei Yen makes a sing-song-y sound, mouths her sippy cup, and crawls into Hu’s lap. #“Hallo,” he greets. #Fei Yen replies with a high, nasaly sound and a happy face. #“We’re looking at paint.” Hu indicates the tablet. #Fei Yen attends. #“We’re not getting it ‘til later, though,” Jin sighs. #Fei Yen hums a sigh. #Hu remembers something. “Hey, when’re the left gyros coming?” 14 #“I don’t even know,” Cheung says tiredly, reaching for his tablet. Taps away— “They’re in transit!” #Jin and Hu cheer. #Fei Yen looks at her cup. #Cheung flops back. “/Never using that supplier again.” #Hu taps away. “Making a note of that.” #Cheung grumps, “Thanks.” #Fei Yen navigates from Hu’s lap, plunks down at his side. #Jin studies his tablet. “If the map’s right, they should be here by the end of the week—” #Cheung continues, “Installation’ll take a day—” #Hu says, “Everything else’s already there.” #“—and then /''Rogue''’ll go for her test walk….” mutters Hu. #Fei Yen abandons her cup, takes hold of Hu’s sleeve, heaves herself to her feet. #“Armour’ll go on—,” Hu adds thoughtfully. #“And we’ll paint!” cheers Jin. #Cheung rolls his eyes. #Fei Yen wiggles Hu's ear. #Cheung continues, “I was gonna say, ‘And then we’ll have data for /''Typhoon''’.” #Fei Yen pulls his ear—and his head—from side to side. #“But it’s /painting day!” #Fei Yen tugs Hu’s head closer. #Hu complies. #“But data! For /our Jaeger!” #Fei Yen streeetches, pats Hu’s crown. #Hu says, “You want to get /''Cherno'', don’t you.” 15 (Novelization) #Fei Yen tilts Hu’s head this way and that. #Jin puffs up. “How could you even /think such a thing?” #Fei Yen rubs Hu’s crown with the heel of her hand. #“I just like to paint, ‘s all.” #Fei Yen yanks Hu’s ear. #Hu lies down on his side, props himself up. #Fei Yen presses her mouth to Hu’s crown. #“Using /''Rogue’s paint for pranks.” Jin huffs. #Hu deadpans to Cheung, “He’s totally gonna get /''Cherno.” #Fei Yen pats around with more force, brow furrowed. #Cheung says, "If you restart the prankwar, Tall Sasha and I are gonna get the Marshal and she's /not going to be happy." (Novelization) #Fei Yen mouths Hu's head, taps with her front teeth. #“Traitors,” grumbles Jin. “The lot of you. Traitors.” #Fei Yen digs in her teeth. #Cheung says, “You’ve got, uh….” #Hu touches—pokes Fei Yen’s nose— #She exhales angrily. #—his head, looks at his bloody fingers as he sits up. #Fei Yen reaches after him, “/mmm/!” #“What’s up?” #Fei Yen trills angrily. #“Why’re you biting him?” #Fei Yen goes pink, face scrunching. #“Feiby?” #“/mmm/!” Fei Yen reaches again. #“Feiby, what’s wrong?” #Fei Yen stomps her feet. #“Fei Yen?” #Fei Yen sits down heavily, bursts into tears. #Jin squeaks. #Cheung flutters. “What’s wrong?” #Fei Yen throws her sippy—”Cup!” #They watch it bounce away, landing face-side up. 16 #Jin giggles. #Cheung says thoughtfully, “You think we’re cups.” #Fei Yen reaches for Hu, cries, “Cup!” #Cheung rolls off their crashpad, leaves in search of a washcloth. #“I’m not a cup, sorry,” Hu says gently, offering a hug. #Fei Yen wails. #“Guys,” says Jin. “She thinks we’re /cups.” #“Clearly,” says Hu softly. “C’mere, Feiby.” #Cheung gets Fei Yen into something of a gentle armlock-- #Fei Yen howls and goes wiggly-- #--and scrubs her mouth. #“She /said cup.” #Hu’s brow wrinkles. #Cheung lets Fei Yen go, dabs at Hu's head with a clean corner of the washcloth. #“Have you said an actual word before?” asks Hu. (Stilwell-Pecci, 2006) 17 #Fei Yen keeps wailing. #Cheung tapes up Hu with a /''Cherno Alpha'' bandage. 18 #Jin beams. “Pretty sure you haven’t.” #“Holy s—” Hu scoops up Fei Yen, Cheung grabs the diaper bag, Jin snatches up the cup, and they fly for the Marshal’s office. Dialogue Four "Llama"; Thirteen months (one year, one month, thirteen days)--2017 February 19 (Sunday). #Hermann (27;8.10, White (German), Chief of Science) sits on the ladder in front of a chalkboard, Fei Yen perched on his arm. #"Which one shall we learn today?" he asks. #Fei Yen (1;1.13, Chinese, Marshal's daughter) points. "Da." #"This one?" #Fei Yen nods. #"This is lambda." #"Naaama." #Hermann stifles a laugh. "Llama?" #Fei Yen frowns. "Na-ma." #"May I call it 'llama', anyway? I much prefer it to Lambda." #Fei Yen makes a show of thinking about it, then nods. "Yesh." #He draws ears and a tail on the letter. "The Greek letter llama." #Fei Yen giggles. "Nama." #Hermann shifts her on his arm. "I use it for wavelengths and semantics and also for calculating how much hay to buy." He 'corrects' another one. "The llama equation. The most irate constant in all mathematics." Dialogue Five #Fei Yen (1;2, tan human) trumps to her parents’ room, finds the laundry basket, and— “tsɑ!”—heaves it over onto its side. #"Alarm!” cries Yutu (1:3grey-green rabbit). #“ɔkɪə?" #"As we were!" #Fei Yen crawls into the laundry basket, ducks as flat as she can and spreads her arms, begins in a low timbre, "Booooo,” and ploughs out the clothes. #“Work work work,” chirps Yutu. #“Beee! Beee! Beee!” Fei Yen crawls out backwards. #“Time for different work!" #“tsɑ!” #"Alarm!" #Fei Yen tips the laundry basket back over. "ɔkɪə?" #"Back at it!" #Fei Yen takes a breath. "Phuu." #Blake (somewhat-overweight grey cat) strides in, makes himself comfortable on the laundry. #Fei Yen looks at Yutu. "Boomboom?" #"I’d love a ride, thank you!" #Fei Yen looks at Blake. "Boomboom?" #"Maaaaaaau,” whines Blake. #Yutu huffs. "So what if you just sat down? We were already playing car." #Blake snorts, stands, leaps into the laundry basket, settles in the front. #Fei Yen tries pulling Blake towards the back. #"But /I wanted to drive!” pouts Yutu. #Blake yawns, flicks his tail. #“Fine, I’ll sit in the back /this time.” Yutu puts her nose in the air and climbs in the back. #“ɔkɪə?" #26. "Ready!" #Blake’s ear twitches. #Fei Yen toddles around to Yutu’s side. "Boomboom!” Braces herself--“tsɑ!”--and pushes. #“Here we go!” cheers Yutu. “Watch out!” #Fei Yen engines the car from the room, down the hall– #Mr Xiong comes from the washroom. #“Maaaau.” Fei Yen stops. #Mr Xiong tips an imaginary hat, putters to the kitchen table. #“ɔkɪə?" #"Ready!” chirps Yutu. #“Boomboom! tsɑ!” #Fei Yen engines the car into the front room. #"This is us,” announces Yutu. #Fei Yen digs in her feet, “Maaaaaaau!”, and comes to a stop. #“Nice job braking,” commends Yutu. #“dæŋju.” Fei Yen beams. #“You’re welcome!” (For clarity’s sake, Yutu neither speaks nor acts under her own power; her speech and actions are what Fei Yen imagines Yutu doing.) Dialogue Six #Charlie, balancing Fei Yen on her knee, Mister Soap, and Ducky sit at a refectory table, eating lunch. #Charlie (20;6.30 Black (Indigenous) Australian, 5’10”) turns a page in her textbook. #Mister Soap (0;4.6, yellow rubber duck, 2 ¼“) sits on the table contently. #“Yum-yum-yum,” hums Fei Yen (1;9.9, Chinese, 2’6”), arranging gummies for Mister Soap. #Ducky (13;3.1, White (1st gen Irish) Australian, 5′4″) glowers. #Charlie ponders a cannon diagram. #“Tarding. Canin.” #Mister Soap faces the first gummy. #Fei Yen narrows her eyes. “Duck.” #Mister Soap comes down hard on a blue monster-- #“BOOM!” #Ducky hunches over his mashed potatoes. #Mister Soap’s shadow looms over another gummy. #“Have any highlighters, Ducky?” #“Duck—” Fei Yen looks at Mister Soap. #Ducky yanks a handful of markers from his backpack, dumps them on the table, returns to his lunch. #“Thanks,” says Charlie. #Fei Yen studies Mister Soap. #Ducky grunts. #Fei Yen says, “Duck.” #Mister Soap falls on a gummy. #“#Mister Soap lies on a gummy. #“[duck!” #“What?” snaps Ducky. #“Duck!” Fei Yen grabs Mister Soap. “Duck!” #Ducky grumbles, returns to his lunch. #Fei Yen fumes, twists in Charlie’s lap. “Duck.” #“What’s up, Feiby?” #“Duck!” Fei Yen waves Mister Soap at Ducky. #“I don’t quite understand what you’re trying to say,” Charlie says slowly. “One sec?” #“[wɒkə mʌdnɒ ɔkɪr!” #“I’ll be quick.” She leans back, scans the refectory. “Oi! Miyahira!” #From the other side of the hall, ““Yea?”” #“C’mere!” #“”Coming~!”” #Charlie smiles at Fei Yen. “Duck is coming?” #Fei Yen grumbles, throws down Mister Soap. “Duck.” #Ducky scowls. #Miyahira (19:1.3, Ryukyujin, 5′6″) skids, skips, and lands beside Charlie. “What’s—hey, Fei Yen! How’s life?” #Fei Yen gives two thumbs up. #“Awe-some,” replies Miyahira. Addresses Charlie: “What’s up?” #“You,” Charlie squeezes Fei Yen, “keep saying ‘Duck’ and I can’t figure it out.” #“Duck?” asks Miyahira. #Fei Yen, picking up Mister Soap. “Duck.” Points him at Ducky. “Duck.” #Ducky uses a little more force than necessary hacking at his meatloaf. #“Are they both ducks?” #Fei Yen bounces. “Duck! Duck-duck!” #Charlie winces. #“Are you trying to say they both have ‘duck’ labels?” #Lost Fei Yen on that one. #“You can call both ‘duck’ and you’ll be correct.” #Fei Yen nods. #“That is some /incredible learn-age there, kid.” Miyahira holds out her fist. “Awesome fistbump of smartness.” #"Yosh!" Fei Yen gleefully throws forth her own. #The loudspeaker crackles. #“That’s my cue,” apologizes Miyahira. “Gotta jet.” #“Thanks,” says Charlie. #“Byebye,” waves Fei Yen. #Ducky grunts. #“Later folks.” Miyahira heaves herself to her feet, jogs from the refectory. #“I’m not a duck,” grumbles Ducky. 63. “You follow me everywhere.” #“I—” He stabs his potatoes. #“Finish up or you won’t grow up enough to be my co-pilot.” Charlie poofs Fei Yen’s hair. “Same to you, kiddo.” #“Duck grow.” Category:Research Category:Writing